The apples, tomatoes and strawberries that we buy at the market are not what they used to be. Hisflavor and aromahismuch less intense. It is the price that must be paid to be able to buy throughout the yearFresh fruitsthat keep well for several weeks. Although soon there will be a choice. Thechemicalsare determined to take thecontrol of ripening of fruits and vegetablesso that they regain their flavor without losing an iota of quality.
As can be read in the latest issue of the magazineChemical & Engineering news, fruit ripening, like human puberty, is a complicated process that begins with ahormonal explosionand culminates in the proper distribution of mature seeds. Later, the body of the fruit begins a slow deterioration that leads to its death, euphemistically known as senescence in the plant world. Until now, the techniques used by the food industry focused on slowing down this maturation, for example using thegaseous compound 1-MCP, responsible, for example, that we can consume crunchy apples from the first to the last bite. But slowing down ripening also implies that the fruit does not reach its maximum flavor.
So biochemists are trying to unravel the tangled web of hormones, genes, and proteins that control this complicated process. One of its main assets will be thegenomesof fruit crops. The first to be sequenced was the vine, selected for analysis due to its important role in the cultural heritage of humanity, and released last summer inNature.
